Wind

Hi,

Well, guess you can tell that the double space gremlin is messing with me again. Anyway, it must be Monday where you are. We got the news today that our container has cleared customs and will arrive tomorrow morning. They'll bring it to the house, unpack and unwrap everything, which is great. Then comes the fun part, where to put it all. We got a couple of clothes racks so we can hang the things that aren't too warm. The rest will have to stay in their boxes. It should be an interesting day or two.

If you were humming "Money" by Pink Floyd all weekend, then you got the song. It was on their mega-hit LP "Dark Side of the Moon". Speaking of dark sides, this next tune could easily be an anthem for SoCal these days. Remember:

"Sunshine, blue skies, please go away. My girl has found another and gone away..." Clues: Obviously relating to weather, it's by a tempting group from the late 60s. It would be good if it happened in the fire areas.

I had an interesting conversation with a new friend, who manages a resort hotel about an hour north of us. He told me that they have elephants on the grounds. This caught my interest and I asked him to explain. Apparently, since the government stopped the harvesting of teak wood, the families who worked the forests have nothing to do, and neither do their elephants. Many of them became what he called 'elephant beggars' in and around Bangkok. We saw one when we were in Bangkok in '01. It was quite a sight to see a man walking a baby elephant down the street at night, letting people pet it for a donation. Anyway, the hotel is adopting the elephants and their families. They now live on the grounds and guest of the hotel can, for a fee, learn to 'drive' an elephant. A portion of the 'fee' goes to take care of the families. It's something I never would have realized, that these families lives were centered around their elephants and the work they could do.

We got a message from Blue the other day which was very interesting. He said, "Be sure to say a prayer and ask the spirits for permission to buy and live on the property. As you know, all properties in Thailand have spirit houses on them (as does your current house) and Thais firmly believe in keeping the spirits who may also be occupying the property, happy. So if you go there, think positive thoughts and kindly ask for permission. Joyce says, 'This way, things will go smoothly'." Now you and I know the story behind the 'Spirit House'.

Well, time to wind down and prepare for tomorrow. It's going to be like opening Pandora's Box. Hmm. Couldn't resist recycling today's quote from the archives. Have a Happy Week.

Peace,

Danny

"You can't direct the wind,
but you can adjust your sails."
~Unknown

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style

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